Creating a thriving Legacy Business takes laser focus, a positive mindset and drive. But it can be extremely difficult to maintain your focus when you find yourself surrounded by toxic people.

Toxic people are the masters of negativity. It’s common for toxic people to create drama and chaos in their own lives and the lives of others. They can be manipulative and controlling, needy, jealous and overly critical.

Many entrepreneurs and professionals have a toxic person in their personal or professional life who creates unnecessary strife, complexity and, most of all, stress.

Stress is absolutely detrimental to your physical and emotional health as well as to your performance as a business entrepreneur.

Stress has been shown to…

• Reduce the effectiveness of your memory and ability to reason
• Diminish your ability to focus, process new information, analyze situations and concentrate
• Sap your energy
• Decrease your ability to get a good night’s sleep
• Increase the risk of headaches, stomach aches, heartburn, depression, high blood pressure
• Hinder your time management skills
• Lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
• Strain interactions in personal and professional relationships

Toxic people create a destructive stress reaction in your brain. Learning to navigate interactions with toxic people is critical in order to achieve general well-being and maximize your performance in business. According to a research study conducted by TalentSmart, 90% of top performers have mastered the ability to manage stress, remain calm and neutralize toxic people.

To boost your performance, implement these 4 strategies for dealing with toxic people:

1. Set Healthy Boundaries.
Toxic people, especially chronic complainers, tend to focus on problems rather than solutions. Often, toxic people want company in their misery. They want your attention and your pity. While empathizing with others is important, you need to draw the line between being sympathetic and getting sucked into an endless spiral of negativity.

How do you set healthy boundaries? If a toxic friend, family member or colleague calls you to vent, let them know upfront that you have about 5 or 10 minutes to chat or that you have to leave shortly for an appointment. This way, if they carry on complaining you can gracefully bring the conversation to a close.

Another way to set limits is to ask the complainer how they plan to fix the problem. This way, you shift their focus in a productive direction. If they have no intention of seeking a solution, they’ll likely hush up.

2. Choose Your Battles.
Toxic people find fault in everything and everyone. They thrive in conflict and are always up for a fight. If a toxic person is trying to bait you into an argument, ask yourself, “Is this a battle worth fighting?” Sometimes it’s best to let an issue go, even if it means biting your tongue or offering an apology. Rise above and don’t allow yourself to get emotionally sucked in. The time and energy you save will be well worth it. Choose your battles carefully and only stand your ground on important issues.

3. Become Aware of Toxicity!
You can’t distance yourself from a toxic person if you aren’t aware of the chaos, negativity and stress they will bring into your life. Start taking notice of when you feel stressed out, exhausted or emotionally drained by interactions with a certain individual. Once you become more conscious of toxic people and situations, you can distance yourself from them.

You may feel that if you live or work with a toxic individual, you have no way to escape their negativity. But you can still establish boundaries, stick to your guns and learn to rise above a toxic person who is a part of your day to day life. In fact, it’s even more critical to do so in these cases! You can also gain more control over when, where and how often you engage with the difficult individual.

4. Control Your Joy.
To become a master of your own happiness, you can’t let your joy or satisfaction be dependent on the opinions of others. Because toxic people are often unhappy and bitter, they often don’t want to celebrate your accomplishments. But don’t allow their jealousy, nasty remarks or critical opinions to take away from your self-worth.

It’s impossible to completely ignore other people’s opinions of you, but you can train yourself to take them with a grain of salt! Make sure your self-worth is dictated from within. If you live with integrity and put forth your best effort, you should be proud of yourself regardless of what toxic people think of you.

In my decades of experience in direct sales and business consulting, I have encountered my fair share of toxic people. While some of those experiences have been unpleasant and even painful, I don’t allow others to hold me back from conquering the goals I set out to achieve.

Learning to navigate interactions with toxic people is critical not only to your professional success, but also your health and emotional well-bring. At Celeste Giordano Coaching, I teach clients how to create and maintain the positive mindset necessary to “Double Plus” their income and build a Legacy Business.

Are toxic relationships holding you back from living a life of peace and prosperity?

It’s not too late to take your power back. Let implementing these strategies be the first step to regaining control of your happiness and your destiny.

Up Next: You’re Invited

We invite our local community to visit us on October 11th from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the 1818 Club for the WGC Atlanta Chapter meeting. Our keynote speakers are Shellie Hunt, the Founder of WGC and Dr. Natalie Forest, Director of WGC.  Pre-registration for the event is $25.00. Click here to pre-register. If you are interested in being a sponsor, please contact celeste@thewomenofglobalchange.com.

We are also opening up several other chapters across the United States. I am honored to help launch the Toronto, Ontario Chapter in the next couple of months. Please visit our website!  

Celeste Giordano’s mission is to help business owners develop the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to “double-plus” their income and become effective and inspirational leaders in their fields. Whether it’s taking your successful business to the next level or starting a new venture, she will teach you the exact skills and strategies you need to enroll more quality prospects, build a rock-solid team, and break through obstacles to achieve real profit and lasting success. Celeste is a professional business growth specialist, a master sales strategist, and dynamic speaker with almost 40 years experience in direct sales and managing high-performing teams.

To learn more about Celeste, click here.

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